Chocolate Mints, or How to Bribe Your Coworkers
by atrosie
Summary: Kensi's got something good, and she's not sharing.


Title: Chocolate Mints (Or How to Bribe Your Coworkers)

Author: atrosie

Rating: PG-13/T

Fandom: NCIS:LA

Pairing(s): Nate/Kensi

Summary: Kensi's got something good, and she's not sharing.

**Chocolate Mints (or How to Bribe Your Coworkers)**

Friday, 12 March 2010

1030 local

NCIS OSP HQ, Los Angeles, CA

Kensi glanced up, checking her surroundings. Callen, sitting next to her, was absorbed in a game of Tetris on his phone. Sam, across the aisle between the two tables, was reading a magazine. Time, she noticed, and resolved to steal it when he was done. Nate sat next to him, his laptop open, a pen tapping against his mouth while he stared at the screen. She stared at his lips for a moment before dragging herself away.

Hetty was nowhere to be seen, though that didn't mean anything. Just because one couldn't see her didn't mean one was safe, but Kensi wasn't worried; she had a plan for Hetty. Payment for all the tea, and she knew the guys wouldn't try anything with her.

She glanced down at the bag in her lap. Normally it would be sitting on the floor by her feet, ignored until she needed something from it. Right now it was hiding her secret, but she had doubts about how much longer that secret would last. If only her teammates weren't so observant ... but there was nothing to do but hope for the best. She had a back-up plan just in case. It was always good to be prepared, even if that was a Boy Scout motto.

She slid her finger under the flap, making no noise as she opened the box. That task completed, she began the next, infinitely more difficult one.

As soon as the plastic crinkled, Callen looked up. "What was that?" he asked, looking around. Nate didn't bother to reply, still involved in whatever he was doing (working on his ever-changing profiles of them, maybe, or checking out the online medical journals. She wondered what he was even doing down here. He had an office, right?). Sam glanced up from his magazine and shrugged.

Callen turned his baby blues on her, and she repeated Sam's shrug. "I didn't hear anything," she said, and hoped he'd buy it. He frowned at her but went back to his game, and she went back to her hidden, secret stash.

This time, they all heard the plastic crinkling, and she silently damned noisy plastic wrappers. The guys were all looking around, searching for the source, and she made a show of doing so as well. Sam and Callen were good, sure, but so was she. And anything to throw them off was good.

"Maybe someone's opening a snack," she said, and they all turned to her. "What? We have a vending machine, you know." Nate lost interest in the staring first, turning back to his laptop. Sam gave her a weird look, and she understood that maybe she was overdoing it a bit. But then he went back to his reading with an eye roll and a page turn, and she glanced to her left.

Callen was giving her a suspicious look. He definitely wasn't buying her act, but he wasn't saying anything about it yet. Her stomach growled silently, and she knew she had to distract him - and fast. Skipping breakfast this morning wasn't her best idea, even if it was totally worth it. His phone beeped, and she grinned. _Perfect._

"What's your score so far?" she asked, nodding at the phone still in his hands.

"182,000," he replied, still suspicious. "13th level."

"Nice," she said, and he nodded. They had an informal contest going on, just between the two of them, on who could get the higher score. She still had him beat by a few thousand points, but letting him get ahead of her wouldn't bug her too much, not if he went back to the game.

He stared at her for a second longer, then glanced back down when the phone beeped again. She waited until his fingers were moving before she went back to her task.

Unfortunately, she'd forgotten about Nate's nose. As soon as the wrapper was finally, finally open, his head came up.

"I smell chocolate," he said, and the others looked up as well.

She silently groaned, mentally taking away his portion. Unless he was willing to earn it back later ...

"I do too," chimed in Sam, and Callen nodded.

"And something ... minty." He turned to her. "Kensi?"

She knew that, at this point, trying to hide would be useless. "Dammit," she muttered, putting the distinctive green box on the table.

Callen gave her an injured look. "I thought we were a team, Kenz," he said, and across the aisle, Sam nodded in agreement. "Teams share things - especially when those things are Thin Mints."

"But they're my Thin Mints," she protested, only whining a bit. "They remind me of when I was a Girl Scout. Plus I missed breakfast this morning."

"I bet you missed on purpose," said Nate, and she glared at him, resisting the urge to give them the real reason she'd missed breakfast. "Just so you would have an excuse not to share."

Sam chuckled.

"I'm not sharing," she muttered mutinously, glaring at the three of them, mentally evaluating her chances. Sam and Callen were bigger and stronger, and just as well trained, but she knew she could have Nate down in an instant. Still ...

Yeah. Totally worth it.

Callen was closest. She hit him where she knew it would cause the most damage - his ticklish spot, right under his arm. He went down with a surprisingly girlish shriek, covering the spot protectively before falling off his chair.

She stood up, grabbing her cookies as she went, and started backing away from the tables. Sam was too busy laughing at Callen to go after her, and Nate clearly wasn't even going to try. She shot them a triumphant grin.

"I'm going to the ladies' room, gentlemen, where I will eat my cookies in peace - without having to share." She turned around and was about to march off in triumph when Callen jumped up.

"Wait! What if we offered you something?"

She slowly turned back, raising her eyebrows. "'Offered me something?'"

Callen nodded.

"Yeah. What if I said I would do your paperwork for a week for, say, five cookies?"

"Are you trying to bribe a federal agent, G Callen?" she asked, curious.

He nodded. "Do we have a deal?"

She eyed him skeptically. "You hate paperwork. And you suck at it. So, um, _no_."

"What if I offer you ten dollars for your four dollar box of cookies?" Sam tried to get in on the deal.

"For the whole box?" She gaped. He shrugged.

"I'm getting hungry. I could eat the whole box."

Callen interrupted then, arguing with Sam, and she couldn't help the grin. It was always good to have a Plan B.

* * * * *

When negotiations were over, she ended up with just two cookies. Well, two cookies plus the five boxes she had at home. Plus the box still in her bag for Hetty.

Sam was going to do her paperwork for a week, which had cost her ten cookies. It was a good bargain, though - Sam was meticulous with all paperwork, and Hetty was a grammar and spelling Nazi.

Callen would buy her lunch every day for the next week. That had cost her another ten cookies, but she was cool with the loss. She wouldn't have to worry about bringing her own, which was a chore she hated.

And for just six cookies, Nate had agreed to an open-ended favor. Anything she wanted, at any time. She knew exactly what she wanted - Nate gave wickedly good back massages. She figured tonight was as good as any other. It wasn't like he wouldn't be coming over anyway, and besides - she did have a box reserved just for him. She hadn't mentioned that, of course. Hetty was the only other person who knew about their relationship, and they were both aiming to keep it that way.

Hetty came downstairs just as they were finishing their snack. She raised an eyebrow at the terms, which Sam had dutifully typed up and printed out, and which had been signed by all parties. Kensi grinned at her and reached into her bag, pulling out the box she'd set aside for Hetty.

"Thank you for the tea, Hetty," she added primly, and witnessed Callen's jaw drop in the corner of her eye. She could tell by the wicked gleam in her eye that Hetty had seen it as well, and was just as amused.

Callen waited until Hetty had gone back to her office before saying anything.

"You had another box in your purse the whole time?"

She nodded, trying to control her grin.

"You mean I could've just grabbed your bag and had cookies, without having to bring you lunch? For the next week?"

She nodded again. He stared at her. Across the aisle, Sam's shoulders were shaking, trying to hide his chuckles.

"You are evil, Kensi Blye," Callen finally conceeded, and she grinned at him.

"Totally worth it," she replied.

* * * * *

2113 local

Kensi Blye's Apartment

Nate muttered something against her shoulder, and she half turned to look at him.

"Mmm?"

"You planned that whole thing, didn't you?" She turned in his arms to look at him. He smiled at her.

"Not really," she said sleepily, snuggling in closer. Seriously, Nate gave the _best_ messages. "I mean, it was a back-up plan. I really was going to eat the whole box myself."

"And not save any for me?" he teased. She grinned against his chest.

"I have a whole box saved just for you." He kissed the top of her head.

"Were you really a Girl Scout?"

He was probably picturing her in the uniform. She filed that thought away for later. "For about fifteen minutes. One of the other girls started picking on me, maybe because I was new and small and kind of shy, and I hauled off and punched her." He chuckled and moved down so he could see her face.

"What did your Dad say?"

She smiled, remembering his reaction. "He was a little irritated, at first. After-school activities were supposed to keep me out of trouble, not get me in more. He did tell me it was a good hit, though." She paused for a minute, thinking. "Thin Mints were his favorite, too."

Nate didn't say anything, just wrapped his arms tighter. She drifted off, knowing that for the next week, she wouldn't have to worry about paperwork or lunch.

Totally worth it.

End


End file.
